Follow TV Tropes

Following

History Main / AllAdultAnimationisSouthPark

Go To

OR

Changed: 161

Removed: 31735

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


->''"There's something that's called 'adult animation' and it usually means it appeals to adolescent, teenage boys and that's not really adult in my view."''
-->-- '''[[http://www.geogrif.com/ George Griffin]]''', independent animator

[[GoodNewsBadNews Good news]]! The mainstream American audience has ''finally'' stopped believing that [[AnimationAgeGhetto all animation is inherently made for kids]], and has accepted that some animation is made for adults!

[[GoodNewsBadNews Bad news]]! Instead, the mainstream American audience now believes that all animation that ''is'' made for adults is inherently full of BlackComedy, [[{{Gorn}} graphic violence]], [[ClusterFBomb copious amounts of swearing]], VulgarHumor, ToiletHumour, [[CrossesTheLineTwice deliberately offensive]] {{stereotype}}s [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and, to a lesser extent,]] {{surreal|Humor}}istic {{Mind Screw}}s! If your animated show or movie doesn't have any of those things in it, then sorry, but everyone still thinks it's for kids only.

In UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation, when the AnimationAgeGhetto was the norm, people like Creator/RalphBakshi made vulgar cartoons out of a desire to make animation that wasn't "just for kids" by making something that [[DarkerAndEdgier couldn't possibly be shown to kids]]. They thus avoided the statement "It can be enjoyed by the whole family" (with the implication that it's meant for children), and a CultClassic or two emerged during that era.

During UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation, thanks to the popularity of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'', and (to a milder degree) ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', the idea that animation could be expanded beyond the family market began to take off again. With the establishment of the TV ratings system, it also became easier to make it clear to audiences that a show wasn't for children. As the Renaissance Age began to shade into UsefulNotes/TheMillenniumAgeOfAnimation, ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' [[note]] Basically just another animated suburban family sitcom, but much more grounded in reality than ''The Simpsons'' [[/note]] became a quiet success for Creator/{{Fox}}, and Creator/CartoonNetwork -- starting with the success of the spoof ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'' -- began to create its own adult-oriented shows, eventually launching the Creator/AdultSwim lineup. But the biggest shake-up to the ghetto came in 1997 when Creator/ComedyCentral debuted the TV-MA-rated ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a vulgar but often uproarious comedy that immediately became a smash hit.

Unfortunately, because of this, most of the adult-oriented shows that followed in ''South Park'''s wake were similarly vulgar, envelope-pushing fare -- the most successful being Fox's ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Thanks to creators following the example of these shows, people now believe that any western animation that isn't just kids' shows are either sitcoms and/or raunchy cartoons, which is far from the truth. Thus, it's very hard for aspiring animators/creators to pitch animated shows without VulgarHumour and ComedicSociopathy in mind, which leads to people creating ''more'' South Park-esque shows; lather, rinse, repeat.[[note]]It's usually thought that Japanese animation doesn't deal with any perception issues like this, which is not entirely true. Non-children targeted Japanese animation doesn't have ''this'' trope, but it does have [[{{Otaku}} its own]] [[{{Hikikomori}} set of issues]] over there.[[/note]] Many such shows have animation that is extremely ugly, extremely cheap, or both, in order to resemble Family Guy's or South Park's own animation-style.

This mentality can also work in the opposite direction, where adult viewers understand that not all cartoons are for children but think that anything not in lockstep with ''South Park''[='s=] particular brand of CrossesTheLineTwice humor is immature garbage--ignoring the many critically acclaimed animated series and films that are suitable for all audiences (such as ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', or ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''). Who cares how well-written it is if [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating there's no blood or swearing]]?

Overall, this thinking is just an evolution of AnimationAgeGhetto: animation may not be seen as exclusively for children anymore, but it is still seen as exclusively immature. To some extent, however, this mindset has begun to die down in UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, largely thanks to the rise of streaming services that allow animation creators more creative freedom than TV networks and regular networks also taking suit. Series such as ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Undone}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}'' have all shown that adult animation outside of the traditional ''South Park''-esque vulgar comedy mold can be successful, though there is still a long way to go yet. On traditional television and in theaters, however, this trope is still very much in play.

And bear in mind, Administrivia/TropesAreTools. For as many misbegotten ''South Park'' and ''Family Guy'' clones as there's been over the years, there's been plenty of critically-acclaimed, respected shows - such as ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' - that rely on almost all of the tropes mentioned in this description. Usually, this is by demonstrating ''some'' level of restraint and featuring actual CharacterDevelopment. This does, however, require the writers to be very careful with how they approach the show—and as many of the examples below will attest to, many aren’t. (Writing shock humor is easy; writing compelling characters and story isn’t.)

See GrossOutShow for more general (and kid-friendlier) examples. Compare with AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles and RatedMForMoney. Contrast with [[AllAnimationIsDisney All (Kid-Oriented) Animation is Disney]].

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' is an odd example. In the franchise's native Japan, the manga is aimed at adults as it was published in a {{Seinen}} manga magazine. Its anime adaptation, on the other hand, is considered ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids family-friendly]]'' despite the crude, raunchy humor being kept in. In addition, the vast majority of the foreign dubs {{bowdlerized}} the anime to make it more suitable for younger audiences[[note]][[{{Demographically Inappropriate Humour}} though they still had their moments of raunchiness]], some of which were actually added by the dubbers themselves[[/note]]. When the anime finally received the more well-known GagDub by Creator/{{FUNimation}}, it was marketed specifically towards adults and had its raunchiness turned UpToEleven.
* ''Manga/{{Mitsudomoe}}'' is a rare anime example of this being played straight, with gross-outs and sex jokes galore.
* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'':
** The show is all about being a homage of Western adult animation, with [[ClusterFBomb copious swearing]] and very strong sexual references, the main protagonist Panty notably wants to have sex with 1000 men, the main transformation sequence is a striptease, there's an episode on masturbation, and the priest Garterbelt is an {{Ephebophile}}, with everything played for comedy. The dubbed version is either more vulgar than the subbed version to the point [[TooHotForTV where it is not allowed on Adult Swim.]]
** WordOfGod even says that they were watching ''Drawn Together'' while drunk and wondered why Japan couldn't make stuff like that.
* The mid-90s manga/anime ''Manga/ThePingPongClub'' is about middle school boys competing to be the best at ping-pong so they can do whatever they want with a girl's body for a month.
* ''Manga/SeitokaiYakuindomo'', where at least 90% of the show's jokes either shock humor or [[ToiletHumour about bodily functions]].
* ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' is superficially similar to ''Crayon Shin-Chan'' (the previous series, ''Osomatsu-kun'', was even more so), though it is marketed mainly at an teen and adult audience. Since the six brothers are [[LazyBum lazy]], [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy hard-drinking]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] [=NEETs=] who [[CasanovaWannabe obsess over sex but can rarely find female companionship]], it has a lot of crude humor, up to and including a scene in the OVA showing [[BestialityIsDepraved the title character getting 'ridden' by the horse instead of the other way around]].
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' is this as it has toilet humor and fourth wall breaking even though it was published in a certain [[Magazine/ShonenJump shonen manga magazine]]. As a matter of fact, it's frequently cited as the Japanese equivalent to ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' due to their very similar styles of humor.
* ''Anime/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan'' is all about graphically killing the main character for laughs and reviving him each time to do it again, so that he doesn't grow up to be a pedophile who creates a potion to keep girls from aging. And there's more, including the fact that angels get chronic diarrhea when their haloes are removed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* ''Fanfic/ThePokemonSquad'' is a rare example of a fanfic series that fits. Almost the entire cast consists of characters from WesternAnimation, VideoGames and AnimeAndManga, and the humor has gotten increasingly reliant on sexual innuendo. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d on the 200th Episode's Q-A session.
-->'''RM:''' As the staff has grown older, our senses of humor have changed as well. And largely that's caused the sense of humor of the series to become more like, eh...\\
'''MM:''' ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''?\\
'''[=PlatinumMage=]:''' ''South Park'', yeah.\\
'''RM:''' Definitely.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'' is one of the few feature film examples of this trope played straight.
* Averted completely by ''WesternAnimation/IsleOfDogs''. Despite its PG-13 rating and occasionally use of comedy focused around stereotypes, it isn't a raunchy ''South Park''-style comedy, and has been praised by many critics not just as an animated film but as a film overall.
* Zig-zagged with ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty''. There's plenty of CharacterDevelopment and a solid plot, but it still sold itself on being the first 3D computer-animated feature to get an R-rating. Viewers are divided on its quality, with some feeling that it tried too hard to shove crude humor into every available place it could find.
* This trope might as well have originally been called "All Adult Animation Is Creator/RalphBakshi" for two reasons: one, when he was still making films, it was, as nobody was making animation for adults as noteworthy as him (relatively speaking). Two, the only others who were only aped the gratuitous sex and nudity, which Bakshi only included in his films as a form of rebellion. His gritty violence and themes of corruption and racism, however, all came from personal experience and are never played for laughs. To be fair, the only reason he got away with this is because he worked independently, a big part of the reason ''Film/CoolWorld'', produced by Paramount, plays this trope straight.
* It'd be easier to count the examples that qualify in Western European animated films, since the overwhelming majority of adult-oriented animation, while sometimes having adult humor, never reaches the extent South Park does.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Although it's actually a puppet show, ''Series/{{Mongrels}}'' was clearly trying to copy this. WordOfGod even stated that he wanted to "do for puppetry what American shows like ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have done for animation".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Print Media]]
* In a review in Metro (free newspaper on public transport) of Goro Miyazaki's ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'', the reviewer made a remark along the lines of, "but its main problem is that it's not very funny; it's a cartoon, so what's the point if it's not funny?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]

* The reason why ''VideoGame/BadDayLA'' was universally panned is, beside the gameplay not being that good to begin with, is that the game tried to be a video-game equivalent of ''South Park'', yet the game's VulgarHumor is way too childish and sophomoric and it attempts at satire mostly boiled to [[EthnicScrappy racial stereotypes]].
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' is one of the few non-animation examples of this trope, with sex jokes and grossout gags galore. This was a deliberate choice in response to critics who felt that earlier builds were too similar to Rare's other cartoonish mascot platformers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]

* ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'' with its BlackComedy, [[CrossesTheLineTwice stereotypes]], ToiletHumor, {{MindScrew}}s, and a [[SirSwearsALot child protagonist who swears like a sailor]].
* The ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' animated shorts usually fall under this category. Some of the shorts can be dark (both BlackComedy-wise and NightmareFuel-wise), some of their shorts can be relatively light, some of their shorts can be surreal, some of their shorts can be gross... you get the idea. In that way, they're much like the original webcomic.
* ''WebAnimation/DeepSpace69'' has sexual jokes for most of its humor. The episodes are roughly 2 to 4 minutes long each.
* ''WebAnimation/DickFigures'' with its cheap animation and vulgar humor.
* ''WebAnimation/LoboWebseries'' counts due to the high amount of violence, profanity and sex due to the R-rated DC comics character involved. However, its humor is considered to be better than other examples of this trope.
* ''WebAnimation/PonyDotMov'' is pretty much what happens when you take the adorable little ponies from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' and place them inside a CrapsaccharineWorld that would make both Creator/JohnWaters and Creator/JohnKricfalusi proud.
* [[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]] zig-zags this trope. While it does use a lot of swear humor and sex jokes, it does not rely on shock humor and gross-out and would put more emphasis on [[ZanyCartoon classic cartoon gags]] from the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation.
* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'' is jet-packed with BlackComedy and VulgarHumor, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids though YouTube rates it TV-PG]]. Its brother show, ''WebAnimation/MegaManDiesAtTheEnd'', is LighterAndSofter in terms of this trope, but it's still present.
* ''WebAnimation/ObjectRedundancy'' is rather fitting, as it's another series full of VuglarHumor.
* ''WebAnimation/VeteALaVersh'' is full of swearing, sex jokes, and ComedicSociopathy with the main protagonist being as massive {{Jerkass}} and his friend being a ButtMonkey.
* ''La Familia De Barrio'' is a Mexican web-series (which eventually got adapted into a full TV-series on MTV and Comedy Central Latin America) with crude animation, lots of swearing, sex jokes, and constantly ridiculing politics and pop-culture like ''South Park''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* The later seasons of ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' resort to this kind of humor, being one of the few non-animated examples of this trope
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', the TropeNamer, is [[TropeCodifier almost single-handedly responsible]] for creating the [[RefugeInAudacity audacious]], [[CrossesTheLineTwice line-crossing]] brand of humor that has become so prevalent in adult animation. Hard as it is to imagine these days, in 1997 the sight of cartoon characters telling each other to "suck balls" was totally wild and crazy (the closest ''The Simpsons'' had ever come to that was, of course, "Eat my shorts!"), and the show drew huge viewership numbers purely from the [[DancingBear novelty factor]]. Like all popular things, it was quickly aped and imitated, and soon it became standard practice for adult cartoons to take a page out of Parker and Stone's book. Unlike many of its derided imitators, though, South Park's humor relies heavily on satire and mockery of weekly news {{Ripped From The Headlines}}; while {{Toilet Humor}} and crude sexual jokes feature frequently, they're not the sole source of comedy in the show, or even the primary one.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animals}}'' [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness starts more or less]] with dudebro humor about drugs and wanting to get laid. As the show progresses, though, it basically becomes South Park's SpiritualAntithesis, mocking society but generally having likable characters and happy endings, little toilet humor, and abundant, positive LGBT representation.
* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'', a short-lived Creator/{{UPN}} animated series that eventually continued its run as one of the inaugural Creator/AdultSwim shows, largely averts this. It has some ToiletHumour and profanity, but by and large prioritizes strong, witty dialogue-based humor over shock comedy.
* Another short-lived UPN animated series, ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'', also averted it -- aside from a few moments of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, it didn't rely on sexual or scatological humor (a few swears were heard from time to time, but typically just the occasional damn, crap, hell, etc.). Having a ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' producer instead meant an intelligent show that revolved around plots mixed in with often over-the-top absurdity, as the [[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} comic strip]] generally did (although with a less of a focus on office humor).
* Despite the trope name, ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' may actually be just as responsible for encouraging this trope. Its particular style of pop culture-centric humor and cutaway gags proved a big hit with audiences (especially following its [[UnCancelled uncancellation]]), and made it arguably just as influential as its brethren, for better or worse.
** ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', the QuietlyPerformingSisterShow to ''Family Guy'', fits the trope just as well. That said, the humor tends to be more character and plot-driven, and as a result is generally more critically respected than its older brother.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' is one of the biggest aversions of this trope. Despite being a Main/SadistShow with tons of BlackComedy, graphic violence, substance abuse, [[MsFanservice female fanservice]], and nudity, this '''''very''''' [[ContinuityLockout continuity-heavy show]] prioritizes long-running plot-lines with tons of character development, lots of CallBack's to prior episodes, humor that derived from cleverly-written shout-outs and deconstructions to ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' and Creator/MarvelComics instead of just mindless shock value and mean spirited take-that's, there's almost no ToiletHumor, and higher-quality animation and art direction than other shows of it kind.
* Part of the reason for ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' SeasonalRot was pressure to become more "edgy" and "adult" in order to compete with shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. This resulted in an increase in mean-spirited humor and gross-out gags that aren't particularly funny and don't fit the show's milder, more laid-back tone. It all culminated in the panda rape scene in "Homer vs. Dignity."
* The Creator/DreamWorksAnimation show ''WesternAnimation/FatherOfThePride'' attempted to be the first adult AllCGICartoon. It flopped and was canned after one season due to its expensive CG-animation, HypeAversion, and a campaign against it by the [[MoralGuardians Parents Television Council]], who feared advertising it as "[[AdvertisingByAssociation From the creators]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}''" would lead kids to watch it.
* The main criticism of ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'' is that tries to be the next ''Family Guy'' (next to its art-style being a blatant rip-off of it) by cramming as many vulgar, offensive and tasteless jokes as humanly possible at the cost of any well-developed or likable characters or interesting storylines.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania}}'' halfway fits. Although mostly a drama that focuses on storyline and CharacterDevelopment more than laughs, it is nonetheless an animated series full of {{gorn}}, heavy cursing--bordering on ObligatorySwearing, considering most ''Castlevania'' games don't go beyond "damn"--overt sexual references, and a drunkard in a pub rambling in gruesome detail about the time he caught some stranger [[BestialityIsDepraved raping his goats]]. (BreadEggsBreadedEggs, perhaps.)
* Possibly one of most well-known shows that play this trope straight is ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', which is 90% CringeComedy and VulgarHumor. You can count the amount of jokes that are not [[RefugeInAudacity shock value]], [[NauseaFuel bodily function-related]] or at the expense of any kind of social/racial minority on one hand. Unlike other shows of it's kind, though, it has at least good art-direction and frequently [[SelfDeprecation mocks the lack of artistic merit this show has.]]
* While ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' definitely qualifies as this in its later seasons (earlier episodes were much tamer, while episodes from season 4 onwards are filled with VulgarHumor and {{Gorn}}), the [[ShortRunners extremely short-lived]] SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/SoulQuestOverdrive'' takes this UpToEleven, featuring a non-stop barrage of crude sex jokes, random gratuitous violence, drug references, and ComedicSociopathy crammed into every 5-minute episode.
* The Netflix show ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'' is a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example, since it's ostensibly centered around middle schoolers who have reached the onset of puberty and are confused about their sexual and psychological changes, something an adult would have outgrown. That said, barely an episode is devoid of dealing with mature topics like sex, drugs, crime, and containing profanity. It's essentially ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' but with teenagers.
* This is why ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'' was canceled after only six episodes. As it turns out, a show that already thrived on vulgar humor doesn't automatically become more "adult" when you show outright what the original cartoon could only imply--if anything, that makes it ''less'' funny. There's some debate over whether this was Spike TV trying to appeal to the post-''South Park'' crowd or just what happens when you don't rein in Creator/JohnKricfalusi.
* The main reason ''WesternAnimation/AllenGregory'' lasted as briefly as it did (aside from being a "filler" show inbetween seasons of ''Family Guy'') was that it was so sophomoric and the characters were so needlessly cruel and unlikable that nobody found it appealing or funny.
* Creator/BillPlympton is a noteworthy subversion as, while his films DO feature completely unfiltered vulgarity and violence, they're strictly AuthorAppeal and [[DoingItForTheArt not intended to appease some kind of demographic]]. At one point, he ''was'' dealing with criticism that he could only do over-the-top sex and violence with no emotional substance, and challenged those critics with the somber, personal ''WesternAnimation/{{Cheatin}}''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'' is a rare CG example (the only other one being ''WesternAnimation/FatherOfThePride'') of this being played straight, with gross outs and sex jokes galore.
* The short-lived British series ''Full English'' was roundly panned for being a very blatant ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' rip-off, right down to the cutaway gags. The series featured much more graphic content than ''Family Guy'', however, with constant swearing, nudity, sex, and shock humor in every episode.
* The MTV ShortRunner ''WesternAnimation/GoodVibes'', which was originally intended to air alongside Seth [=MacFarlane=]'s series but ended up airing with the revival of ''Beavis and Butt-head'', had some HiddenDepths and the main characters avert being {{ComedicSociopath}}s, but was otherwise this trope.
* ''Hell and Back'' is another rare feature film example as well as one of the few stop-motion examples besides ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', with tons of sex and [[BlackComedyRape rape jokes]].
* Most of ''Animation Domination High-Definition'', especially ''WesternAnimation/HighSchoolUSA'', plays this straight.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' averts this trope. While it's a comedy that does have a lot of sexual humor, swearing, and some bloody violence, it seldom resorts to ToiletHumor outside the episode where Music/RKelly is on trial for a sex tape of him urinating on a 14-year old girl. It has been compared to the [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark trope namer]], but only in regards to its biting social commentary, not its style of humor.
* The Filipino-American creators of ''WesternAnimation/TheNutshack'' say that their series is the very first Asian adult cartoon. Anime aside, most of the humor is very low-brow and crude, with sex, violence, and drug use throughout.
* ''WesternAnimation/LegendsOfChamberlainHeights'' is another example, not only having loads of stereotypes and sexual humor, but even using the same two-frame animation style as ''South Park''. It doesn't help that Creator/ComedyCentral is using ''South Park'' as a lead-in in it's first season.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'' averts this trope via not resorting to shock humor and [[SirSwearsALot having the characters utter expletives every half-minute,]] instead defining itself as mature by its emotional, gripping story arcs and complex, multilayered characters, irrespective of the moderate language and (stylized) violence here and there, but thankfully [[GoshDangItToHeck none of the swear words are more vulgar than "crap."]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'' is a pretty faithful adherent of this trope. All of the humor is either sexual, violent, offensive, or just plain gross, and is also drawn in a deliberately sloppy, ugly art-style.
* One major complaint about ''WesternAnimation/MrPickles'' is that the show tries to cram as many sex jokes and as much violent, disturbing and disgusting content as humanly possible into 11 minutes. ''WesternAnimation/KingStarKing'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'' fall under this formula as well, although the latter is considered as many as this trope done right. That said, there are hints of a consistent plot, and notably for this type of show it rarely delves into politics. Season 3 tries other types of humor besides just gross-out, like genre parodies, though it still thrives in gore.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' contains loads of sex, violence and shocking subject matter, particularly jokes involving Krieger, the NightmareFetishist. It does have a highly detailed and realistic art style, however, compared to the usual crude and simplistic looks of shows of this type, and mixes in long-running plotlines, a surprising amount of CharacterDevelopment and a love for obscure GeniusBonus jokes.
* The AnimatedAdaptation of ''WesternAnimation/BabyBlues'' on Creator/TheWB was a failure mainly due to this trope, taking what was a genial, family-friendly comic strip about the everyday hassles of parents raising two young children, and filling it with sexual innuendo and adult-oriented plots, [[AudienceAlienatingPremise driving away fans of the comic strip while failing to bring in people who weren't]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' both deconstructs and totally defies this trope. There are no {{designated hero}}es, no SnapBack, very little [[NauseaFuel grossout humor]] and all of the socio-political messages are well-informed (if a little heavy-handed). Instead, the show analyzes why a crude, selfish, destructive person would be the way they would. The result is a story about how love is earned and that nobody is going to like you if they have a perfectly good reason not to. While the series has some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in the first few episodes, where it does lean more towards the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''/''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' style of animated comedy, it quickly settles on character-driven BlackComedy, and mostly uses the gags of its earlier episodes for deconstruction.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' is often seen as an example of this trope "done right". A lot of the humor is extremely sophomoric, with phallic imagery, burp/fart jokes, pop culture references and violence galore; however, much like ''Bojack Horseman'', it plays the consequences of a lot of these jokes completely straight for the sake of furthering the story and developing the characters, who even at their flattest are much more fleshed out and three-dimensional than a good deal of the show's contemporaries. The most notable of this is the writers' conscious decision to make the occasional verbal rape joke while playing every instance of the act itself completely for horror, illustrating the difference between [[BlackComedy making jokes]] ''about'' rape and thinking rape is ''funny''.
* Deconstructed in the third season of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel''. While the show is a biting criticism of Christianity and plays most of the tropes straight, when the CerebusSyndrome hit, it starts exploring how psychologically damaging the violence and obscenity can turn out to be.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' played this trope straight in [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Season 1]] (the first episode alone cracked jokes about pedophilia, autism and cannibalism). As of Season 2, the show grew out of it and was made into a DenserAndWackier version of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' (which is perhaps the ultimate aversion of this trope).
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' is an early (pre-''South Park'') example, deriving several jokes from ToiletHumour and the title characters [[HehHehYouSaidX love to point out innuendoes]]. Its spinoff, ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', largely averts this trope. While it was controversial in its time, later shows such as ''South Park'' and ''Family Guy'' have taken their vulgar humor to much greater lengths, to the point that ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' can look [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny tame in comparison]]. This may be one of the reasons why the 2011 revival was so short-lived.
* Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'' is a glaring example of this trope in action, released [[TwoDecadesBehind almost a full decade]] after edgy animated sitcoms had fallen out of favor with viewers. Every episode is a nonstop barrage of stereotypes, graphic violence, drug jokes, [[GrossoutShow grossout jokes]], ToiletHumour, and ComedicSociopathy so unrelenting it [[PoesLaw almost borders on parody]], and the characters aren't nearly three-dimensional enough to make up for it.
* Despite its superhero comic origins, ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' fits nicely in this category. It delights in how crude and raunchy it can get, with gratuitous violence, profanity, and jokes about all manner of off-color topics fill every episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/JJVillardsFairyTales'' is full of {{Gorn}}, VulgarHumor, and has LimitedAnimation to the point where the character animation is just like South Park's.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoops}}'' is another Netflix cartoon that plays this trope straight. The art-style is crude and unappealing, the main character is a completely unlikable {{Jerkass}}, and the humor is very crass and crude, with lots of dick jokes and '''extreme''' amounts of [[ClusterFBomb F-bombs]] from it's [[SirSwearsALot ''very'' foul-mouthed protagonist]].

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other]]
* In his 2015 autobiography, Music/EdSheeran says that he wasn't allowed to watch ''The Simpsons'' as a child because his mother thought it was on the same level as ''South Park.'' Strangely, he quit church choir so he could watch ''The Simpsons,'' which is mentioned in his 2017 song "Eraser."
[[/folder]]
----

to:

->''"There's something that's called 'adult animation' and it usually means it appeals to adolescent, teenage boys and that's not really adult in my view."''
-->-- '''[[http://www.geogrif.com/ George Griffin]]''', independent animator

[[GoodNewsBadNews Good news]]! The mainstream American audience has ''finally'' stopped believing that [[AnimationAgeGhetto all animation is inherently made for kids]], and has accepted that some animation is made for adults!

[[GoodNewsBadNews Bad news]]! Instead, the mainstream American audience now believes that all animation that ''is'' made for adults is inherently full of BlackComedy, [[{{Gorn}} graphic violence]], [[ClusterFBomb copious amounts of swearing]], VulgarHumor, ToiletHumour, [[CrossesTheLineTwice deliberately offensive]] {{stereotype}}s [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and, to a lesser extent,]] {{surreal|Humor}}istic {{Mind Screw}}s! If your animated show or movie doesn't have any of those things in it, then sorry, but everyone still thinks it's for kids only.

In UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation, when the AnimationAgeGhetto was the norm, people like Creator/RalphBakshi made vulgar cartoons out of a desire to make animation that wasn't "just for kids" by making something that [[DarkerAndEdgier couldn't possibly be shown to kids]]. They thus avoided the statement "It can be enjoyed by the whole family" (with the implication that it's meant for children), and a CultClassic or two emerged during that era.

During UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation, thanks to the popularity of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'', and (to a milder degree) ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', the idea that animation could be expanded beyond the family market began to take off again. With the establishment of the TV ratings system, it also became easier to make it clear to audiences that a show wasn't for children. As the Renaissance Age began to shade into UsefulNotes/TheMillenniumAgeOfAnimation, ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' [[note]] Basically just another animated suburban family sitcom, but much more grounded in reality than ''The Simpsons'' [[/note]] became a quiet success for Creator/{{Fox}}, and Creator/CartoonNetwork -- starting with the success of the spoof ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'' -- began to create its own adult-oriented shows, eventually launching the Creator/AdultSwim lineup. But the biggest shake-up to the ghetto came in 1997 when Creator/ComedyCentral debuted the TV-MA-rated ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a vulgar but often uproarious comedy that immediately became a smash hit.

Unfortunately, because of this, most of the adult-oriented shows that followed in ''South Park'''s wake were similarly vulgar, envelope-pushing fare -- the most successful being Fox's ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Thanks to creators following the example of these shows, people now believe that any western animation that isn't just kids' shows are either sitcoms and/or raunchy cartoons, which is far from the truth. Thus, it's very hard for aspiring animators/creators to pitch animated shows without VulgarHumour and ComedicSociopathy in mind, which leads to people creating ''more'' South Park-esque shows; lather, rinse, repeat.[[note]]It's usually thought that Japanese animation doesn't deal with any perception issues like this, which is not entirely true. Non-children targeted Japanese animation doesn't have ''this'' trope, but it does have [[{{Otaku}} its own]] [[{{Hikikomori}} set of issues]] over there.[[/note]] Many such shows have animation that is extremely ugly, extremely cheap, or both, in order to resemble Family Guy's or South Park's own animation-style.

This mentality can also work in the opposite direction, where adult viewers understand that not all cartoons are for children but think that anything not in lockstep with ''South Park''[='s=] particular brand of CrossesTheLineTwice humor is immature garbage--ignoring the many critically acclaimed animated series and films that are suitable for all audiences (such as ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', or ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''). Who cares how well-written it is if [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating there's no blood or swearing]]?

Overall, this thinking is just an evolution of AnimationAgeGhetto: animation may not be seen as exclusively for children anymore, but it is still seen as exclusively immature. To some extent, however, this mindset has begun to die down in UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, largely thanks to the rise of streaming services that allow animation creators more creative freedom than TV networks and regular networks also taking suit. Series such as ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Undone}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}'' have all shown that adult animation outside of the traditional ''South Park''-esque vulgar comedy mold can be successful, though there is still a long way to go yet. On traditional television and in theaters, however, this trope is still very much in play.

And bear in mind, Administrivia/TropesAreTools. For as many misbegotten ''South Park'' and ''Family Guy'' clones as there's been over the years, there's been plenty of critically-acclaimed, respected shows - such as ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' - that rely on almost all of the tropes mentioned in this description. Usually, this is by demonstrating ''some'' level of restraint and featuring actual CharacterDevelopment. This does, however, require the writers to be very careful with how they approach the show—and as many of the examples below will attest to, many aren’t. (Writing shock humor is easy; writing compelling characters and story isn’t.)

See GrossOutShow for more general (and kid-friendlier) examples. Compare with AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles and RatedMForMoney. Contrast with [[AllAnimationIsDisney All (Kid-Oriented) Animation is Disney]].

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' is an odd example. In the franchise's native Japan, the manga is aimed at adults as it was published in a {{Seinen}} manga magazine. Its anime adaptation, on the other hand, is considered ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids family-friendly]]'' despite the crude, raunchy humor being kept in. In addition, the vast majority of the foreign dubs {{bowdlerized}} the anime to make it more suitable for younger audiences[[note]][[{{Demographically Inappropriate Humour}} though they still had their moments of raunchiness]], some of which were actually added by the dubbers themselves[[/note]]. When the anime finally received the more well-known GagDub by Creator/{{FUNimation}}, it was marketed specifically towards adults and had its raunchiness turned UpToEleven.
* ''Manga/{{Mitsudomoe}}'' is a rare anime example of this being played straight, with gross-outs and sex jokes galore.
* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'':
** The show is all about being a homage of Western adult animation, with [[ClusterFBomb copious swearing]] and very strong sexual references, the main protagonist Panty notably wants to have sex with 1000 men, the main transformation sequence is a striptease, there's an episode on masturbation, and the priest Garterbelt is an {{Ephebophile}}, with everything played for comedy. The dubbed version is either more vulgar than the subbed version to the point [[TooHotForTV where it is not allowed on Adult Swim.]]
** WordOfGod even says that they were watching ''Drawn Together'' while drunk and wondered why Japan couldn't make stuff like that.
* The mid-90s manga/anime ''Manga/ThePingPongClub'' is about middle school boys competing to be the best at ping-pong so they can do whatever they want with a girl's body for a month.
* ''Manga/SeitokaiYakuindomo'', where at least 90% of the show's jokes either shock humor or [[ToiletHumour about bodily functions]].
* ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' is superficially similar to ''Crayon Shin-Chan'' (the previous series, ''Osomatsu-kun'', was even more so), though it is marketed mainly at an teen and adult audience. Since the six brothers are [[LazyBum lazy]], [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy hard-drinking]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] [=NEETs=] who [[CasanovaWannabe obsess over sex but can rarely find female companionship]], it has a lot of crude humor, up to and including a scene in the OVA showing [[BestialityIsDepraved the title character getting 'ridden' by the horse instead of the other way around]].
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' is this as it has toilet humor and fourth wall breaking even though it was published in a certain [[Magazine/ShonenJump shonen manga magazine]]. As a matter of fact, it's frequently cited as the Japanese equivalent to ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' due to their very similar styles of humor.
* ''Anime/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan'' is all about graphically killing the main character for laughs and reviving him each time to do it again, so that he doesn't grow up to be a pedophile who creates a potion to keep girls from aging. And there's more, including the fact that angels get chronic diarrhea when their haloes are removed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* ''Fanfic/ThePokemonSquad'' is a rare example of a fanfic series that fits. Almost the entire cast consists of characters from WesternAnimation, VideoGames and AnimeAndManga, and the humor has gotten increasingly reliant on sexual innuendo. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d on the 200th Episode's Q-A session.
-->'''RM:''' As the staff has grown older, our senses of humor have changed as well. And largely that's caused the sense of humor of the series to become more like, eh...\\
'''MM:''' ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''?\\
'''[=PlatinumMage=]:''' ''South Park'', yeah.\\
'''RM:''' Definitely.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'' is one of the few feature film examples of this trope played straight.
* Averted completely by ''WesternAnimation/IsleOfDogs''. Despite its PG-13 rating and occasionally use of comedy focused around stereotypes, it isn't a raunchy ''South Park''-style comedy, and has been praised by many critics not just as an animated film but as a film overall.
* Zig-zagged with ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty''. There's plenty of CharacterDevelopment and a solid plot, but it still sold itself on being the first 3D computer-animated feature to get an R-rating. Viewers are divided on its quality, with some feeling that it tried too hard to shove crude humor into every available place it could find.
* This trope might as well have originally been called "All Adult Animation Is Creator/RalphBakshi" for two reasons: one, when he was still making films, it was, as nobody was making animation for adults as noteworthy as him (relatively speaking). Two, the only others who were only aped the gratuitous sex and nudity, which Bakshi only included in his films as a form of rebellion. His gritty violence and themes of corruption and racism, however, all came from personal experience and are never played for laughs. To be fair, the only reason he got away with this is because he worked independently, a big part of the reason ''Film/CoolWorld'', produced by Paramount, plays this trope straight.
* It'd be easier to count the examples that qualify in Western European animated films, since the overwhelming majority of adult-oriented animation, while sometimes having adult humor, never reaches the extent South Park does.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Although it's actually a puppet show, ''Series/{{Mongrels}}'' was clearly trying to copy this. WordOfGod even stated that he wanted to "do for puppetry what American shows like ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have done for animation".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Print Media]]
* In a review in Metro (free newspaper on public transport) of Goro Miyazaki's ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'', the reviewer made a remark along the lines of, "but its main problem is that it's not very funny; it's a cartoon, so what's the point if it's not funny?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]

* The reason why ''VideoGame/BadDayLA'' was universally panned is, beside the gameplay not being that good to begin with, is that the game tried to be a video-game equivalent of ''South Park'', yet the game's VulgarHumor is way too childish and sophomoric and it attempts at satire mostly boiled to [[EthnicScrappy racial stereotypes]].
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' is one of the few non-animation examples of this trope, with sex jokes and grossout gags galore. This was a deliberate choice in response to critics who felt that earlier builds were too similar to Rare's other cartoonish mascot platformers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]

* ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'' with its BlackComedy, [[CrossesTheLineTwice stereotypes]], ToiletHumor, {{MindScrew}}s, and a [[SirSwearsALot child protagonist who swears like a sailor]].
* The ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' animated shorts usually fall under this category. Some of the shorts can be dark (both BlackComedy-wise and NightmareFuel-wise), some of their shorts can be relatively light, some of their shorts can be surreal, some of their shorts can be gross... you get the idea. In that way, they're much like the original webcomic.
* ''WebAnimation/DeepSpace69'' has sexual jokes for most of its humor. The episodes are roughly 2 to 4 minutes long each.
* ''WebAnimation/DickFigures'' with its cheap animation and vulgar humor.
* ''WebAnimation/LoboWebseries'' counts due to the high amount of violence, profanity and sex due to the R-rated DC comics character involved. However, its humor is considered to be better than other examples of this trope.
* ''WebAnimation/PonyDotMov'' is pretty much what happens when you take the adorable little ponies from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' and place them inside a CrapsaccharineWorld that would make both Creator/JohnWaters and Creator/JohnKricfalusi proud.
* [[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]] zig-zags this trope. While it does use a lot of swear humor and sex jokes, it does not rely on shock humor and gross-out and would put more emphasis on [[ZanyCartoon classic cartoon gags]] from the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation.
* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'' is jet-packed with BlackComedy and VulgarHumor, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids though YouTube rates it TV-PG]]. Its brother show, ''WebAnimation/MegaManDiesAtTheEnd'', is LighterAndSofter in terms of this trope, but it's still present.
* ''WebAnimation/ObjectRedundancy'' is rather fitting, as it's another series full of VuglarHumor.
* ''WebAnimation/VeteALaVersh'' is full of swearing, sex jokes, and ComedicSociopathy with the main protagonist being as massive {{Jerkass}} and his friend being a ButtMonkey.
* ''La Familia De Barrio'' is a Mexican web-series (which eventually got adapted into a full TV-series on MTV and Comedy Central Latin America) with crude animation, lots of swearing, sex jokes, and constantly ridiculing politics and pop-culture like ''South Park''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* The later seasons of ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' resort to this kind of humor, being one of the few non-animated examples of this trope
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', the TropeNamer, is [[TropeCodifier almost single-handedly responsible]] for creating the [[RefugeInAudacity audacious]], [[CrossesTheLineTwice line-crossing]] brand of humor that has become so prevalent in adult animation. Hard as it is to imagine these days, in 1997 the sight of cartoon characters telling each other to "suck balls" was totally wild and crazy (the closest ''The Simpsons'' had ever come to that was, of course, "Eat my shorts!"), and the show drew huge viewership numbers purely from the [[DancingBear novelty factor]]. Like all popular things, it was quickly aped and imitated, and soon it became standard practice for adult cartoons to take a page out of Parker and Stone's book. Unlike many of its derided imitators, though, South Park's humor relies heavily on satire and mockery of weekly news {{Ripped From The Headlines}}; while {{Toilet Humor}} and crude sexual jokes feature frequently, they're not the sole source of comedy in the show, or even the primary one.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animals}}'' [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness starts more or less]] with dudebro humor about drugs and wanting to get laid. As the show progresses, though, it basically becomes South Park's SpiritualAntithesis, mocking society but generally having likable characters and happy endings, little toilet humor, and abundant, positive LGBT representation.
* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'', a short-lived Creator/{{UPN}} animated series that eventually continued its run as one of the inaugural Creator/AdultSwim shows, largely averts this. It has some ToiletHumour and profanity, but by and large prioritizes strong, witty dialogue-based humor over shock comedy.
* Another short-lived UPN animated series, ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'', also averted it -- aside from a few moments of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, it didn't rely on sexual or scatological humor (a few swears were heard from time to time, but typically just the occasional damn, crap, hell, etc.). Having a ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' producer instead meant an intelligent show that revolved around plots mixed in with often over-the-top absurdity, as the [[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} comic strip]] generally did (although with a less of a focus on office humor).
* Despite the trope name, ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' may actually be just as responsible for encouraging this trope. Its particular style of pop culture-centric humor and cutaway gags proved a big hit with audiences (especially following its [[UnCancelled uncancellation]]), and made it arguably just as influential as its brethren, for better or worse.
** ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', the QuietlyPerformingSisterShow to ''Family Guy'', fits the trope just as well. That said, the humor tends to be more character and plot-driven, and as a result is generally more critically respected than its older brother.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' is one of the biggest aversions of this trope. Despite being a Main/SadistShow with tons of BlackComedy, graphic violence, substance abuse, [[MsFanservice female fanservice]], and nudity, this '''''very''''' [[ContinuityLockout continuity-heavy show]] prioritizes long-running plot-lines with tons of character development, lots of CallBack's to prior episodes, humor that derived from cleverly-written shout-outs and deconstructions to ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' and Creator/MarvelComics instead of just mindless shock value and mean spirited take-that's, there's almost no ToiletHumor, and higher-quality animation and art direction than other shows of it kind.
* Part of the reason for ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' SeasonalRot was pressure to become more "edgy" and "adult" in order to compete with shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. This resulted in an increase in mean-spirited humor and gross-out gags that aren't particularly funny and don't fit the show's milder, more laid-back tone. It all culminated in the panda rape scene in "Homer vs. Dignity."
* The Creator/DreamWorksAnimation show ''WesternAnimation/FatherOfThePride'' attempted to be the first adult AllCGICartoon. It flopped and was canned after one season due to its expensive CG-animation, HypeAversion, and a campaign against it by the [[MoralGuardians Parents Television Council]], who feared advertising it as "[[AdvertisingByAssociation From the creators]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}''" would lead kids to watch it.
* The main criticism of ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'' is that tries to be the next ''Family Guy'' (next to its art-style being a blatant rip-off of it) by cramming as many vulgar, offensive and tasteless jokes as humanly possible at the cost of any well-developed or likable characters or interesting storylines.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania}}'' halfway fits. Although mostly a drama that focuses on storyline and CharacterDevelopment more than laughs, it is nonetheless an animated series full of {{gorn}}, heavy cursing--bordering on ObligatorySwearing, considering most ''Castlevania'' games don't go beyond "damn"--overt sexual references, and a drunkard in a pub rambling in gruesome detail about the time he caught some stranger [[BestialityIsDepraved raping his goats]]. (BreadEggsBreadedEggs, perhaps.)
* Possibly one of most well-known shows that play this trope straight is ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', which is 90% CringeComedy and VulgarHumor. You can count the amount of jokes that are not [[RefugeInAudacity shock value]], [[NauseaFuel bodily function-related]] or at the expense of any kind of social/racial minority on one hand. Unlike other shows of it's kind, though, it has at least good art-direction and frequently [[SelfDeprecation mocks the lack of artistic merit this show has.]]
* While ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' definitely qualifies as this in its later seasons (earlier episodes were much tamer, while episodes from season 4 onwards are filled with VulgarHumor and {{Gorn}}), the [[ShortRunners extremely short-lived]] SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/SoulQuestOverdrive'' takes this UpToEleven, featuring a non-stop barrage of crude sex jokes, random gratuitous violence, drug references, and ComedicSociopathy crammed into every 5-minute episode.
* The Netflix show ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'' is a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example, since it's ostensibly centered around middle schoolers who have reached the onset of puberty and are confused about their sexual and psychological changes, something an adult would have outgrown. That said, barely an episode is devoid of dealing with mature topics like sex, drugs, crime, and containing profanity. It's essentially ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' but with teenagers.
* This is why ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'' was canceled after only six episodes. As it turns out, a show that already thrived on vulgar humor doesn't automatically become more "adult" when you show outright what the original cartoon could only imply--if anything, that makes it ''less'' funny. There's some debate over whether this was Spike TV trying to appeal to the post-''South Park'' crowd or just what happens when you don't rein in Creator/JohnKricfalusi.
* The main reason ''WesternAnimation/AllenGregory'' lasted as briefly as it did (aside from being a "filler" show inbetween seasons of ''Family Guy'') was that it was so sophomoric and the characters were so needlessly cruel and unlikable that nobody found it appealing or funny.
* Creator/BillPlympton is a noteworthy subversion as, while his films DO feature completely unfiltered vulgarity and violence, they're strictly AuthorAppeal and [[DoingItForTheArt not intended to appease some kind of demographic]]. At one point, he ''was'' dealing with criticism that he could only do over-the-top sex and violence with no emotional substance, and challenged those critics with the somber, personal ''WesternAnimation/{{Cheatin}}''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'' is a rare CG example (the only other one being ''WesternAnimation/FatherOfThePride'') of this being played straight, with gross outs and sex jokes galore.
* The short-lived British series ''Full English'' was roundly panned for being a very blatant ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' rip-off, right down to the cutaway gags. The series featured much more graphic content than ''Family Guy'', however, with constant swearing, nudity, sex, and shock humor in every episode.
* The MTV ShortRunner ''WesternAnimation/GoodVibes'', which was originally intended to air alongside Seth [=MacFarlane=]'s series but ended up airing with the revival of ''Beavis and Butt-head'', had some HiddenDepths and the main characters avert being {{ComedicSociopath}}s, but was otherwise this trope.
* ''Hell and Back'' is another rare feature film example as well as one of the few stop-motion examples besides ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', with tons of sex and [[BlackComedyRape rape jokes]].
* Most of ''Animation Domination High-Definition'', especially ''WesternAnimation/HighSchoolUSA'', plays this straight.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' averts this trope. While it's a comedy that does have a lot of sexual humor, swearing, and some bloody violence, it seldom resorts to ToiletHumor outside the episode where Music/RKelly is on trial for a sex tape of him urinating on a 14-year old girl. It has been compared to the [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark trope namer]], but only in regards to its biting social commentary, not its style of humor.
* The Filipino-American creators of ''WesternAnimation/TheNutshack'' say that their series is the very first Asian adult cartoon. Anime aside, most of the humor is very low-brow and crude, with sex, violence, and drug use throughout.
* ''WesternAnimation/LegendsOfChamberlainHeights'' is another example, not only having loads of stereotypes and sexual humor, but even using the same two-frame animation style as ''South Park''. It doesn't help that Creator/ComedyCentral is using ''South Park'' as a lead-in in it's first season.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'' averts this trope via not resorting to shock humor and [[SirSwearsALot having the characters utter expletives every half-minute,]] instead defining itself as mature by its emotional, gripping story arcs and complex, multilayered characters, irrespective of the moderate language and (stylized) violence here and there, but thankfully [[GoshDangItToHeck none of the swear words are more vulgar than "crap."]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'' is a pretty faithful adherent of this trope. All of the humor is either sexual, violent, offensive, or just plain gross, and is also drawn in a deliberately sloppy, ugly art-style.
* One major complaint about ''WesternAnimation/MrPickles'' is that the show tries to cram as many sex jokes and as much violent, disturbing and disgusting content as humanly possible into 11 minutes. ''WesternAnimation/KingStarKing'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'' fall under this formula as well, although the latter is considered as many as this trope done right. That said, there are hints of a consistent plot, and notably for this type of show it rarely delves into politics. Season 3 tries other types of humor besides just gross-out, like genre parodies, though it still thrives in gore.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' contains loads of sex, violence and shocking subject matter, particularly jokes involving Krieger, the NightmareFetishist. It does have a highly detailed and realistic art style, however, compared to the usual crude and simplistic looks of shows of this type, and mixes in long-running plotlines, a surprising amount of CharacterDevelopment and a love for obscure GeniusBonus jokes.
* The AnimatedAdaptation of ''WesternAnimation/BabyBlues'' on Creator/TheWB was a failure mainly due to this trope, taking what was a genial, family-friendly comic strip about the everyday hassles of parents raising two young children, and filling it with sexual innuendo and adult-oriented plots, [[AudienceAlienatingPremise driving away fans of the comic strip while failing to bring in people who weren't]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' both deconstructs and totally defies this trope. There are no {{designated hero}}es, no SnapBack, very little [[NauseaFuel grossout humor]] and all of the socio-political messages are well-informed (if a little heavy-handed). Instead, the show analyzes why a crude, selfish, destructive person would be the way they would. The result is a story about how love is earned and that nobody is going to like you if they have a perfectly good reason not to. While the series has some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in the first few episodes, where it does lean more towards the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''/''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' style of animated comedy, it quickly settles on character-driven BlackComedy, and mostly uses the gags of its earlier episodes for deconstruction.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' is often seen as an example of this trope "done right". A lot of the humor is extremely sophomoric, with phallic imagery, burp/fart jokes, pop culture references and violence galore; however, much like ''Bojack Horseman'', it plays the consequences of a lot of these jokes completely straight for the sake of furthering the story and developing the characters, who even at their flattest are much more fleshed out and three-dimensional than a good deal of the show's contemporaries. The most notable of this is the writers' conscious decision to make the occasional verbal rape joke while playing every instance of the act itself completely for horror, illustrating the difference between [[BlackComedy making jokes]] ''about'' rape and thinking rape is ''funny''.
* Deconstructed in the third season of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel''. While the show is a biting criticism of Christianity and plays most of the tropes straight, when the CerebusSyndrome hit, it starts exploring how psychologically damaging the violence and obscenity can turn out to be.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' played this trope straight in [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Season 1]] (the first episode alone cracked jokes about pedophilia, autism and cannibalism). As of Season 2, the show grew out of it and was made into a DenserAndWackier version of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' (which is perhaps the ultimate aversion of this trope).
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' is an early (pre-''South Park'') example, deriving several jokes from ToiletHumour and the title characters [[HehHehYouSaidX love to point out innuendoes]]. Its spinoff, ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', largely averts this trope. While it was controversial in its time, later shows such as ''South Park'' and ''Family Guy'' have taken their vulgar humor to much greater lengths, to the point that ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' can look [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny tame in comparison]]. This may be one of the reasons why the 2011 revival was so short-lived.
* Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'' is a glaring example of this trope in action, released [[TwoDecadesBehind almost a full decade]] after edgy animated sitcoms had fallen out of favor with viewers. Every episode is a nonstop barrage of stereotypes, graphic violence, drug jokes, [[GrossoutShow grossout jokes]], ToiletHumour, and ComedicSociopathy so unrelenting it [[PoesLaw almost borders on parody]], and the characters aren't nearly three-dimensional enough to make up for it.
* Despite its superhero comic origins, ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' fits nicely in this category. It delights in how crude and raunchy it can get, with gratuitous violence, profanity, and jokes about all manner of off-color topics fill every episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/JJVillardsFairyTales'' is full of {{Gorn}}, VulgarHumor, and has LimitedAnimation to the point where the character animation is just like South Park's.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoops}}'' is another Netflix cartoon that plays this trope straight. The art-style is crude and unappealing, the main character is a completely unlikable {{Jerkass}}, and the humor is very crass and crude, with lots of dick jokes and '''extreme''' amounts of [[ClusterFBomb F-bombs]] from it's [[SirSwearsALot ''very'' foul-mouthed protagonist]].

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other]]
* In his 2015 autobiography, Music/EdSheeran says that he wasn't allowed to watch ''The Simpsons'' as a child because his mother thought it was on the same level as ''South Park.'' Strangely, he quit church choir so he could watch ''The Simpsons,'' which is mentioned in his 2017 song "Eraser."
[[/folder]]
----
[[redirect:AnimatedShockComedy]]

Top